Property group OUE has been buying back its shares at a steady pace. The most recent transaction was on March 21 when it acquired 10,000 shares on the open market at $1.29 each. This brings the total number of shares bought back under the current mandate to 8.09 million units.
Prior to March 21, OUE was buying back shares almost every other day since the start of the month. These range from as much as 92,400 shares on March 1 at $1.2916 each to as low as 10,000 shares on several other days. The prices OUE paid were kept within a tight range of around $1.29.
The company’s share price has been persistently trading at a very steep discount to its net asset value of $4.41 as at Dec 31, 2021, slightly higher than $4.24 as at Dec 31, 2020.
On Feb 24, the company announced the rebranding of what was known as Mandarin Orchard Singapore into Hilton Singapore Orchard, which is described as the Hilton chain’s flagship hotel in Singapore and its largest in Asia Pacific.
On Feb 28, the company reported revenue of $148.8 million for 2HFY2021 ended December 2021, down 35.1% over 2HFY2020’s $229.3 million.
The company attributes the drop to the absence of contribution from a US office property that has been sold. Even so, earnings for 2HFY2021 came in at $50.9 million, reversing from a loss of $136.2 million incurred in 2HFY2020.
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For the full year, OUE’s reported earnings of $80.9 million versus a loss of $343.4 million. The company attributes the better showing to higher adjusted ebit and lower share of fair value losses on investment properties mainly arising from the absence of fair value loss recognised on US Bank Tower in FY2020.
OUE also enjoyed fair value gains on investments, although that was partly offset by impairment losses on some of its properties.
In its earnings commentary, OUE warns that the outlook remains uncertain and recovery uneven given the ongoing pandemic.
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Luxury two-wheelers
EuroSports Global, known for its luxury sports cars dealership, has made yet another of its sporadic buybacks. On March 22, the company acquired 54,800 shares at 16.982 cents each. This brings the total number of shares bought under the current mandate to just over 1.28 million units.
The previous buyback was made on Jan 7, when the company acquired 35,000 shares for 17.5 cents each.
On Aug 5, the company announced that executive chairman Melvin Goh Kim San was being investigated by the police under the Securities and Futures Act. He was arrested on Dec 2, 2021, and granted a bail of $50,000. No charges have been filed thus far.
Meanwhile, Goh has stepped down from his roles as chairman, CEO and director of the company. Instead, his brother Andy Goh Kim Hup has taken over as the interim executive chairman and CEO.
On Nov 12, the company announced losses for 1HFY2021 ended September 2021 narrowed to just $1.08 million from losses of $1.97 million the year earlier. Revenue in the same period was down 13.5% y-o-y to $21.1 million as it sold fewer number of cars.
Besides selling Lamborghinis and Alfa Romeos, EuroSports Global has a subsidiary EuroSports Technologies that is involved in the selling of electric motorcycles under the Scorpio Electric name.
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Following the launch of its electric bike business last October, the company has started collecting deposits for pre-order bookings for the first model, X1.
According to EuroSports in its earnings commentary, EuroSports Technologies has been “incubating” a new business venture which will be unveiled under a separate sustainable mobility brand, focused on serving business-to-business customers.
